Fastest Marathon Report

Friday the 13th it certainly was but monsoon weather conditions did not deter members, friends and family of the locally based Mounts Bay Harriers running, triathlon and athletics club in their quest to enter the Guiness Book of Records.

Heavy rain throughout the day put pay to the original plan of staging the event outdoors on the 400m grass track and so a carefully orchestrated plan ‘B’ rolled into action.

The indoor sports dome at Mounts Bay School, usually more accustomed to indoor tennis, was carefully measured and marked into a 200m circuit ready for the multi lap relay marathon attempt.

MBH Head coach Viv Matthews stated that ‘our original plan to run just over 105 individual 400m laps now had to be doubled as the 200m circuit was half the size. The specially constructed red, white and black baton, complete with Cornish flag, would have to be passed between each runner, double the amount of laps we had originally anticipated and this ultimately gives more opportunities for the baton to be dropped – something that would cost valuable seconds.

At 5.30, Mark Omori, one of the club’s many qualified coaches, fired the starting gun and away went the first runner (10 year old Amber Wooderson-Harrod) followed by a steady stream of 104 other runners who had previously booked and registered for the event.

Club secretary Ian Matthews commented that it was great to see coaches, senior members, junior members, friends and family and so much support for the event. “Everyone was clapping and cheering the whole night, the support and atmosphere was brilliant – so much so that I think it may become an annual event. Each runner wore a race number so that they could identify when they were required to run and may I say not one person dropped the baton”. He added “The main aim of the evening was to raise valuable much needed funds for the Cornwall Young Carers Association and I’m pleased to say that well over £150 will be handed over to them”The event concluded with all athletes, young and old, running the final lap together and crossed the line in a time of 2 hours 21 minutes and 45 seconds – not bad for 105 different people, from aged 7 to 85! It’s got to be some kind of record
Mounts Bay Harriers next event will be this weekend, Sunday 22 July where they will be staging their annual Aquathlon at the Penzance Leisure centre. 130 children consisting of all ages, from all around the country will be competing in the swim / run event which this year forms part of the South West Tristars series.Mounts Bay Harriers Running, Triathlon and Athletics Club is based at Mounts Bay School and offers senior club runs Mondays and Thursdays, a junior sportshall athletics session on Friday evenings and group swim and cycle sessions at weekends. For more information on Mounts Bay Harriers visit the clubs informative website at www.mountsbayharriers.co.uk or turn up ready to run at ‘the Dome’ at Mounts Bay School on a Monday or Thursday at 7pm or you can telephone 07770 352471